I screwed up - help
- Started
- Last post
- 52 Responses
- wwfc0
...personally, I would hold your hands up and take the shite on the chin - it may well work in your advantage - the industry is full of buck-passing gob shites - so your honesty and sincerity might well stand you in higher esteem with the client - I always respect 'honest' people more than the I'm alright Jack's the make their way through the day passing on everything other than the pat on the head!
Small comfort - I f*ckd up many moons ago - massive print run of car stickers for a radio station (no names!) and even though the brief I was given was wrong - I went cap in hand to the MD of the agency who was demanding heads on plates - told him what had happened - it took him by suprise that I volunteered my head on the block and actually took my side and ripped seven shades of sh*t off the account team! - 15 years later I still get freelance gigs from him and have a really good working relationship.So fair play to you - if she wants rid of you - she will do it one way or t'other - do you really want to work with/for someone that is willing you to fuck up?
- I hate to demean your response with a mere '+1', but you're so right, so that's what you get.Nairn
- moth0
Where I came from, sign-offs weren't worth the paper they were written on. Account handlers always have 1 more amend.
- babaganush0
I think wwwfc is SO right. This can happen internally or with other agencies - just one of those things. Being pro-active about sorting it would go a long way in anyone's book who is half decent. If the client is actually a good manager they'll respect that. If they use it to dismiss your services, chances are it would happen pretty soon anyhow. Although money/clients are super important in a wishy washy Karma way, if I've learned anything it's that it isn't going to work and isn't worth it if someone is angling to end the working relationship. Bad for body, soul and business in the long term.
Good luck mate I certainly feel you have done the right thing.
- toe_knee0
A guy in a sydney agency (wont name any names) resigned during a sick day by sending an all staff email poem...thing was about a page long.
One of the lines was....
"Your three page warning, left me yawning.
We have a baby on the way,
and we wont get buy on a lousy 30k"The suits weren't too impressed but all the CD's and AD's loved it... he will probably be in demand now.
Moral... fess up, be a man about it. Dont pass the buck.... if you are on the way out, go out with dignity and style.
- mia_free0
dont buy the car
- babaganush0
I got some shit from an agency as I had to go onsite to finish stuff off and was doing 25 hour stints. They had a taxi policy and one of the suits sent a company wide mail about getting taxi's off the street as opposed to from the retained car company. I wrote a polite response company wide (massive company mind you) about waiting on a miserable street corner in the early hours not being that attractive and subtly suggested that 'suits' never experience this as they're rarely at the coalface when the shit hits the fan.
Got a response from some senior people who's noses were out of joint, so I wrote back something like...
" Wasn't meant to offend but stand by what I think. Seems you're not happy so I'll get my coat - TAXI!!!!"
Thought shit would fly again but actually got more respect for sticking to my guns and at least having a sense of humour about it.
- formed0
Honesty goes a long way. Personally, I'd prefer to work with someone that screwed up than someone that is obviously passing the buck or blatantly lying.
I can't tell you how many pathetic excuses I've heard (granted, just to lack of performance, not costing printing).
Gotta look at those proofs/test prints. I just saved something that - logo printed green (no one was ever able to figure out why), should have been white. Big project, big client.
Things will always go wrong, just depends on how you deal with it that separates the punks from the pros.
Good luck.
- magnificent_ruin0
we have a great client with the word "community" in their company name, and about a week after we had some expensive brochures printed up someone noticed that we had spelled "community" with 3 m's. Because of the similarity of m, u, and n in lowercase sans serif (just a bunch of consecutive humps) we hadn't noticed it. We called the owner of the company in horror with our usual caveat about not taking responsibility for final proofreading, and he laughed and said it was no big deal, he didn't care, these would be fine until they reprinted.
- Wow, that's great! I love clients like this!!!!SkyPoo
- he always says "no false deadlines"magnificent_ruin
- erikjonsson0
i like the wag the dog tips. pick one and see what happens.
it is of my belief that you should invade the middle east, perhaps such as the iraq or the united states. maps and education for the schools also.
- utopian20
Get her wasted and shag her.
- Helvetica0
Get her wasted and shag her? Have you seen that movie 'teeth' yet? She's a scary biotch.
Anyway an update: I followed up with another email. I hope it doesn't come across as inconsistent, but I think the ad agency has a little responsibility to check ads for their media - especially as this is a new media and my client is new to this. I'm siding with my client and angling to protect their brand. I'll pay for a reprint if the agency cover the media space. I think that's fair. If the manager want to axe me, as some of you have already said, she will be doing it anyway. Their loss, seriously, I buss my balls for these peeps.
Also: I'm buying the car. phucked if I'm letting her control my choice of wheels! BMW 325Ci coupé btw. If I have to I'll be on the pimp steaks to save yo
- mg330
When I worked in marketing at a law firm last up until last November, we had an outside vendor do ads for us. There was a particular one that wasn't so much a printing error as a poor choice in photography that only my keen eye noticed after it was already printed and in a publication (I was not responsible for sign off):
the ad used a big picture of a doberman and a little chihuahua next to it, with the slogan or theme of the ad being "the right fit" "which law firm is the right fit for you, etc."
No one seemed to notice when approving it that the giant, seated on hind legs Doberman was both male and extremely well-endowed.
I actually asked my boss, "do you notice anything odd about this ad we did over the summer?" and I actually had to point it out to her and she freaked. Suddenly the juxtaposition of "right fit," a giant male doberman, and a tiny female chihuahua took on a whole new meaning and she was horrified. Had a few words with the ad guy, who was a good friend, but still - what a slip of conscience to use an image like that.
And still a very funny story.
- Helvetica0
Here's the exact text I sent back to my client, names changed (enough trouble for today)
[Lily] in terms of [advertiser's] responsibility, all they send us is a PDF with the guidelines. As this is a new media format in this city and we are a new customer of theirs, maybe they should make the guidelines more explicit. Do they not have some kind of quality control check in-house, a proof reader who wants to protect their format and make sure that ads going out are going to reflect well on themselves as a media, as well as us as their client? It seems irresponsible to give a one-liner guideline and not check it or enforce it, especially in a new format of media advertising. I would question the process here. This reflects badly on our brand and it would be in [advertiser's] interest to promote quality advertising and that they protect the brand of their customer.
- cashface0
yea that sounds like your saying alot of nothing....but I hope it works
- jteore0
Your focus seems to be on retaining your material possession and not so much on what went down. Accidents happen in the workplace, true. But I have to wonder why you seem so quick to cover your ass on a fuck up. Too may fuck up's before?
- First mistake I have made in 5 years running my own biz. read the text properly I have already fessed up, but I won't play the sucker for someone looking for a scapegoat eitherHelvetica
- moth0
Sounds a lot like buck passing.
- Helvetica0
The actual motor in question!
ftp://www.magma.ie:21//magma.ie...
- capn_ron0
Seems like you are pushing the blame. Mistakes happen all the time. Especially in design. Chalk it up as a lesson and move on. What will happen is going to happen no matter what. Focus on your next project.
- really I'm giving my client some firepower to bargain with the advertiser. Blame won't pay the bills, but we need a solution. You're right about moving on and focussing on the next project.Helvetica
